5D3 w/ Pix240 or C100 w/Pix240?

[Omar Nabulsi]

Hello all,

I've been searching the internet for an answer to this question but have not come up with anything concrete. I do mostly travel documentary work and am trying to decipher the difference between a 5D3 and a C100, both with a Pix240 external recorder capturing 8 bit 422. So far, the only difference I can discern is that the C100 will be a bit sharper and has the Canon log dynamic range. Be that as it may, the 5D3 is also an excellent stills camera for time-lapse and can do slo motion up to 60fps. That being said, the 5D3 can be sharpened in post to bring it up a little, and both will have an equally gradable image given the identical codec... so is there anything else I am missing? The Pix240 would give the 5D3 XLR inputs, so that is a non issue. Form factor for me is also a non issue.

So far, the advantages seem hardly worth the extra $3-4k that I could use to buy some nice lenses, but then again, I have never used a C100.

All help greatly appreciated. Thank you!
~Omar

[Josh Dahlberg]

The 5D3 doesn't have clean 1080 output at the moment, so you'll have to wait for the promised firmware update to arrive for that.

As a 5D3 / C300 owner (and someone who's played with a Pix recorder), I would personally go with the C100. Ergonomics aside, features like the waveform monitor and built in NDs are pretty big.

But the increased resolution (you can make the 5D3 picture sharper in post, but not more detailed) and log recording are key - the image quality is appreciably different (we'll have to wait for clean 1080 output from the 5D3 to see how much a PIX recorder can close the gap, but I suspect not much).

Since owning a C300 I barely touch the 5D3 for video - I'm simply keeping it as a stills camera. Which I think brings us to a question only you can answer: how much of the 5D3 purchase is about stills? If it's principally about video I wouldn't hesitate to go for the C100, even if it meant spending less on glass. But if the stills component is critical, the 5D3 is the only option.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Omar Nabulsi

...the 5D3 is also an excellent stills camera for time-lapse and can do slo motion up to 60fps...
...The Pix240 would give the 5D3 XLR inputs, so that is a non issue. Form factor for me is also a non issue...

For me it would be hands-down a C100 for good on-board audio. Yes, the Pix will have excellent audio, but good on-camera audio is important to me for the times I'm not recording externally.

I've been going around in circles as I explore timelapse. I've done stills on my 60D, 5 hours of video on my 60D with a 60x speedup in post... but my favorite so far for general HD use is a nanoflash recording from a conventional camcorder. With that, I've got an intervalometer (which I used at 1 frame/sec, 60x) as well as undercranking.

I've really only started to explore this function of the nanoflash, man, experimenting takes a while when a shot really has to run an hour to tell you anything! But so far, I like it...

Intervalometer and undercranking on the Pix240? You might like it!

[Omar Nabulsi]

Thanks for the reply's! This has been very helpful information.

So Seth, if I am reading you correctly, does this mean we get the highly sought slow motion and time-lapse functionality with the C100 if we use the Nano flash recorder? I assume I miss understood, correct? :)

[Seth Bloombaum]

I haven't yet used the C100 on a shoot. I'm still pretty new to the nanoflash, and still learning all its modes.

No slowmo - that isn't part of the package, I think.

But, undercranking for fastmo and true timelapse - yes, these seem to be working well. Caveat, I'm only 3 clips into testing, and I've had another project taking all my time lately.

I hear great things about the Pix, too, and wouldn't be surprised if it might also have undercrank/fastmo and timelapse.

Overcrank/slowmo is a different deal altogether, and I wouldn't expect such with conventional cameras, other than true 60p, which as far as I know can give you a good 50% slowmo on a 30p timeline, and is a fine starting point for further software slowmo in post.

An external recorder can only record what's coming down the wire to it, and that's going to be 24p, 30i, 30p and sometimes 60p with a conventional (non-high-speed) camera.

On the timelapse - one thing that a dSLR shooting stills will give you is enough resolution that you can do "camera" moves in post. But, if it were me, and I could afford it, a camcorder is more versatile and quick for moving subjects. To me the C100 has lots to recommend it - I can use relatively inexpensive still camera lenses AND get decent sound on camera. But, I'm kind of old-fashioned, too, and have long-standing biases about some of this stuff. I shoot a lot more video than I do timelapse...

I guess a lot of those biases come in favor of simplifying workflows whereever possible. So, for example, *when I can* I'd much rather do single-system sound, or, much rather have the nanoflash make a single timelapse video clip. I'm always trying to do this stuff because it frees more my time and energy to work on creative concepts, visualizing the shot, visualizing the edit, directing talent, thinking about the next shot, whatever...

[Omar Nabulsi]

Hi Seth,

Thanks for the reply. If you do not mind me asking, how exactly does the timelapse on the Nanoflash work? Like you indicated, I thought the recorder could only pick up what was being fed into it. If the C100 is not feeding interval frames into it, how can it work in interval record?

I have never used one, so just trying to test the waters before making the purchase. Thank you!

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Omar Nabulsi

...If you do not mind me asking, how exactly does the timelapse on the Nanoflash work? Like you indicated, I thought the recorder could only pick up what was being fed into it....

My camcorder sends signal out via HDMI whenever it is turned on. The NF can be set up so that it records a frame every second, or every two, three, etc. seconds. In between those frames that it records, it just stands by in record mode.

The nice trick for the workflow is that all these frames are automatically assembled into a single file, mxf, mov or mpeg (I forget which flavor, I use mxf).

I'm guessing that this is a common trick that might also be done by the Pix240, but I don't know. Bear in mind that the NF does not record in the popular ProRes or DNxHD formats; though the formats it does record in are quite useful.

I'm still new enough with the Nanoflash that I can't credibly recommend it over other flash recorders, but so far I'm liking it! KiPro, Pix, Atomos, Hyperdeck are all supported by forums here, as is the Nanoflash. Perhaps a search on those forums would turn up some timelapse info?